The Dakshina Kannada District Rural Drinking Water Testing Laboratory has now been accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), a Constituent Board of the Quality Council of India.
It is the first such NABL-accredited laboratory in the State, according to the Chief Executive Officer of Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Kumara.
The laboratory functions under the Department of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation.
It tested water samples collected from rural areas for 16 parameters including colour, odour, taste, pH, turbidity, electrical conductivity, TDS, chloride, total hardness, calcium, magnisium, alkalinity, nitrate, fluoride, iron and sulphate, Mr. Kumara said.
The laboratory was set up in 1998.
Guidelines
The guidelines of the Jal Jeevan Mission, aimed at providing safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections to all rural households in the country by 2024, makes it mandatory to obtain NABL accreditation to rural drinking water testing laboratories.
The NABL conducted the final audit of the laboratory on June 2, 2021.